Family of Iron Butt Challenge victim to file case

PALAKKAD: Family of a 21-yearold engineering student, who died on Wednesday after his motorcycle crashed into a truck in neighbouring Karnataka while he was participating in a two-wheeler ride challenge, is considering legal action against promoters of the dangerous game.

“We are thinking of iling a case against the riding challenge. A complaint would be lodged with the Director General of Police and the chief minister shortly”, Mithun’s father, M Sugathan, said. He said that the family was aware of Midhun’s riding passion.

“After graduating we planned to send him for civil service coaching. We thought that will take his mind off the speeding craze. But the unfortunate happened and none should be victim of such accidents in future,” Sugathan said.

The relatives also alleged that Mithun Ghosh, a inal year mechanical engineering student of Nehru College, Pampady near here, was following the footsteps of a college senior, who had completed the Saddle Sore challenge by completing 1600 km in 24 hours.

Mithun, 22, son of Sugathan of SRK Nagar in Palappuram, had rammed against a speeding truck and suffered fatal injuries to the chest and face and died on the spot.

The challenge, completing which could get the rider a membership in the coveted Us-based riders club. The Iron Butt Association (IBA) is a Us-based organisation dedicated to endurance motorcycle riding who tout themselves as the ‘World’s Toughest Riders’.

To become a member of this group a rider has to undertake one of the challenges given by the group. The minimum is the Saddle Sore 1000 - 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in 24 hours or less.

They also offer the Saddle Sore 1000, the Bum Burner 1500 and the Bum Burner Gold- the 50 cc Quest.

Mithun had opted for Saddle Sore 1000 during which he met with the tragic accident.

The accident occurred near Chitradurga on the Bengaluru-pune National Highway at 4 am on Wednesday, when the motorcycle that Mithun was riding crashed into a lorry ahead of him, which had reportedly applied sudden breaks, according to the Karnataka police.

Mithun had left his house on Tuesday after telling his mother that he was riding to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, police said. Police recovered a sketch of the route map of his planned trip from Palakkad to Bengaluru to Pune.